Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Latest Curves on Rough Road to Peace in Middle East
Aired May 28, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the latest curves on the rough road to peace in the Middle East. There's some major backpedaling going on this morning.
Let's go live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel -- tell us about it, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, you know what Alice said behind the looking glass, she said curiouser and curiouser. I think we can add to that curiouser and curiouser but also murkier and murkier. That's the question of this meeting between Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas/Abu Mazen.
They were due to have met yesterday for their second meeting in 10 days after Israel had endorsed the new peace initiative, the road map to peace. And then the meeting was suddenly postponed. At the time we were told it was a scheduling problem, but the meeting would eventually be held. Now, within the last hour, Abu Mazen has told reporters that there will be a meeting tomorrow in Jerusalem with the Israeli prime minister.
But from the Israeli side, no confirmation of that. They say there's been no scheduled meeting as of this time and where it will take place. So, the question of whether there will, in fact, be a meeting remains very murky between the two sides -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, Jerrold, there is word that Yasser Arafat is really the cause for all of this confusion. Is that true or not true?
KESSEL: Again, certainly, I think the murkiness, as I call it, about the meeting suggests two things. The one thing is that there is really not a great deal of cooperation and/or trust between the two leaderships, the Palestinian and the Israeli. Well, there's nothing new about that and nothing surprising about that.
But beyond that, it has opened the confusion of whether it was just not just a scheduling problem but really some kind of problem behind that, if it was just scheduling, why not just say, come out and say well, there'll be a meeting tomorrow or the next day and at this and that time? But since it wasn't done in that way, that's opened the sluice gates of speculation. And one of the speculation is that Yasser Arafat has put his hand into this mixture and has either called the meeting off, yes, called it on, and so forth. And that really does remain not just speculation, but it does suggest that there is some kind of ongoing -- I don't want to call it necessarily a power struggle -- but certainly a struggle for who's calling the shots in the Palestinian leadership -- Yasser Arafat, who it's no secret Israel and the United States want to keep on the sidelines, and he desperately wants to get back into call the shots, or Abu Mazen.
The leeway that Abu Mazen has is a key factor in this and the fact that he hasn't been able to establish permanently that there is a meeting or not does add to that, at least the impression that Yasser Arafat is still very much involved in calling the shots -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem.
And just so there's no confusion, Abu Mazen is also known as Mahmoud Abbas, who is the Palestinian prime minister.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 28, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the latest curves on the rough road to peace in the Middle East. There's some major backpedaling going on this morning.
Let's go live to Jerusalem and Jerrold Kessel -- tell us about it, Jerrold.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, you know what Alice said behind the looking glass, she said curiouser and curiouser. I think we can add to that curiouser and curiouser but also murkier and murkier. That's the question of this meeting between Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas/Abu Mazen.
They were due to have met yesterday for their second meeting in 10 days after Israel had endorsed the new peace initiative, the road map to peace. And then the meeting was suddenly postponed. At the time we were told it was a scheduling problem, but the meeting would eventually be held. Now, within the last hour, Abu Mazen has told reporters that there will be a meeting tomorrow in Jerusalem with the Israeli prime minister.
But from the Israeli side, no confirmation of that. They say there's been no scheduled meeting as of this time and where it will take place. So, the question of whether there will, in fact, be a meeting remains very murky between the two sides -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, Jerrold, there is word that Yasser Arafat is really the cause for all of this confusion. Is that true or not true?
KESSEL: Again, certainly, I think the murkiness, as I call it, about the meeting suggests two things. The one thing is that there is really not a great deal of cooperation and/or trust between the two leaderships, the Palestinian and the Israeli. Well, there's nothing new about that and nothing surprising about that.
But beyond that, it has opened the confusion of whether it was just not just a scheduling problem but really some kind of problem behind that, if it was just scheduling, why not just say, come out and say well, there'll be a meeting tomorrow or the next day and at this and that time? But since it wasn't done in that way, that's opened the sluice gates of speculation. And one of the speculation is that Yasser Arafat has put his hand into this mixture and has either called the meeting off, yes, called it on, and so forth. And that really does remain not just speculation, but it does suggest that there is some kind of ongoing -- I don't want to call it necessarily a power struggle -- but certainly a struggle for who's calling the shots in the Palestinian leadership -- Yasser Arafat, who it's no secret Israel and the United States want to keep on the sidelines, and he desperately wants to get back into call the shots, or Abu Mazen.
The leeway that Abu Mazen has is a key factor in this and the fact that he hasn't been able to establish permanently that there is a meeting or not does add to that, at least the impression that Yasser Arafat is still very much involved in calling the shots -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel live from Jerusalem.
And just so there's no confusion, Abu Mazen is also known as Mahmoud Abbas, who is the Palestinian prime minister.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
